Portland Journal; City That Had It All Leads in Crime

By H. ERIC SEMLER, Special to The New York Times

Published: June 27, 1989

PORTLAND, Ore.—
Residents here in the City of Roses like to say they have it all. They crow about their spotless parks, exemplary schools, award-winning water and strategic location - just an hour's drive from rugged ski slopes and pristine beaches.

One thing they do not like to discuss are their bank robberies.

Last year Oregon led the nation in bank robberies per capita. Only New York, California and Florida reported more such holdups overall.

Portland, with a population of 388,000, reported 238 bank robberies in 1988. That is 200 more than Chicago (population 3 million), 193 more than Atlanta (422,000) and 143 more than Detroit (1.1 million).

With Los Angeles gangs moving up the coast and a crime rate that ranks third in the country, many Oregonians are wondering whether the rash of bank robberies is an aberration or a sign of worse to come.

''All this crime has made people realize that Portland is a big city now,'' said Mike Lindberg, a 10-year member of the City Council. ''But at first, people reacted in disbelief and said, 'We live in a small town and this can't be happening here.' ''

In groping for an explanation of a phenomenon that no one really understands, some law-enforcement officials here attribute the bank robbery epidemic to Oregon's overcrowded prison system. Others say it is the banks' fault for taking a laissez-faire approach to security. In their eagerness to appear ''user friendly,'' many of the state's 700 banking offices have instead become robber friendly.

''The problem with most of Oregon's banks is they don't have the look and feel of a bank,'' said Steven T. Wax, the state's public defender for Federal crimes. ''They're not heavy or oppressive like most banks. They're open, airy and inviting. Only the big institutions downtown really look like banks - and they don't get robbed.''

In conformity with the local taste for conspicuous openness, many banks refused until recently to screen teller booths with bulletproof enclosures, a common feature of banks in large cities, because they felt it diminished contact between customers and employees. In addition, Oregon banks do not employ armed guards.

''I don't think we're robber friendly,'' said Frank Brawner, executive vice president of the Oregon Bankers Association, which paid out $35,000 in reward money last year to people who helped the police arrest bank robbers. ''We just don't believe in shootouts in the lobbies of our banks.''

Mr. Brawner said many banks had finally invested in more sophisticated cameras and alarm systems to improve their security.

Many local officials insist that bank robberies are also an outgrowth of a crisis in Oregon's prisons.

Danny O. Coulson, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's office in Portland, said about 85 percent of Oregon's bank robbers had already been convicted of a state felony, but had served little or no time in prison.

But Mr. Wax, whose office defends bank robbers prosecuted by the state, insists that overcrowded prisons are not the source of the problem.

''Prisons are overcrowded everywhere,'' he said. ''Bank robbery is a Federal offense, and my clients are sophisticated enough to know they will go to a Federal penitentiary where there is room for them if they are convicted of the crime.''

About 90 percent of the bank robbers arrested in Oregon were addicted to drugs, Mr. Coulson said.

Robert D. Benson, a Portland police detective who works with the F.B.I. on bank robbery cases, said many bank robbers work their way up the crime ladder, starting with small crimes like car break-ins and house burglaries, and eventually rob banks to pay for their growing drug habit.

''Most bank robbers are people with drug and alcohol problems who are dysfunctional when they commit the offense,'' Mr. Wax said. As a result, many of the robberies are poorly executed.

''For the most part, they are not real good at it,'' Mr. Coulson said, noting that many bank robbers here do not disguise themselves or make getaway plans.

Most bank robbers are not armed, although many say they are, the F.B.I. agent continued. Only a few robberies in the last two years have been violent. In September a customer was shot and killed by a bank robber who is still being sought, Mr. Coulson said.

Tana Hatton, who supervises tellers at a U.S. Bank of Oregon branch in southeastern Portland, has witnessed five robberies in the last year.

''It's getting a lot worse,'' she said. ''It used to be just notes and quiet and no one knew what was going on. Now they come in their black ski masks and show you their gun and yell, 'It's a holdup!' ''